P.V. Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth progressed to the second round but B. Sai Praneeth and the young men’s doubles pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy exited the Malaysia Open badminton championships in the opening round on Wednesday.

PV Sindhu has charmed much of the sports world with her enterprising will to rise to any of the challenges she faces, she has become a role model to women who admire confidence and poise. Her fashion sense on Instagram seems to be just as myriad as her sports performances, with traditional dresses from designer mentions.
Here is Sindhu in an Anjali Jani anarkali as she attended TANA 2017 in USA, the anarkali is complete with original embroidery in a monochromatic brown, giving it a simple yet indulgent look.
Her black lehenga with gold chevron patterns is slightly different from her usual traditional appearances, there is a touch of glamour and ‘70s influences; but still a definite showstopper for its vintage chic.
An elegant piece that stays minimally beautiful with gem bordered neck and sleeves. A resplendent white motif at the bottom completes the easy gaze look.

Grabbing all the headlines in recent media, 24-year-old Kidambi Srikanth certainly needs no introduction. Coming out from the ranks of the famed Pullela Gopichand’s academy, Srikanth is one of the those humblest players, who doesn’t really play for records and rankings, but is the one who wants to enjoy his game. 2017 has been a wonderful year for the Gunter-born shuttler, having already won the Indonesia Open and the Australian Open. Besides, in a total of 28 games he has contested in 2017, he has emerged victorious in 22 of them.

His exploits saw himself breaking into the top 10 rankings after he was ranked 8th in the recent rankings and what added further to his glory was the fact that he was honoured by PM Narendra Modi for his recent success.

It all started for the 24-year-old during the 2016 Olympics where he defeated the likes of Lino Muñoz and Henri Hurskainen before getting the better of the then World’s number 5 Jørgensen in straight games to book his place in the quarter-final against Lin Dan, against whom he created a major upset in the 2014 China Open Super Series.

We, at Sportswallah, were privileged enough to have a chat with the recently crowned Australian Open Champion Kidambi Srikanth, where he explained how important a role of coaches is in a sport like Badminton.

24-year-old Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth was honoured by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his back to back achievements in Badminton.

The 24-year-old Guntur-born reached his third successive Super Series final and managed to outclass World Champion Chen Long in the Australian Open in straight games. Prior to that, Srikanth also reached Singapore Open final, but lost the title to Sai Praneeth. He, however, made it all up in the Indonesia Open as he got the better of world No.1 Son Wan Ho in the final.

His exploits saw himself breaking into the top 10 rankings after he was ranked 8th in the recent rankings. Firstly, his Indonesian Open win allowed him to sit 11th on the log and the Australian Open triumph helped him to acquire the eight spot. Srikanth, on his Twitter account, expressed his joy of receiving the award, saying, “I feel honoured to meet you and talk to you, sir. I can’t ask for anything else. This photo just says how happy I am.”

Shuttler H S Prannoy, who shot to fame by shocking Olympic champion Chen Long and silver medallist Lee Chong Wei in the recent Indonesia Super Series Premier, is aiming to be more consistent in his bid to win big titles.

Prannoy, who is currently ranked world number 21 in men’s singles, had emerged as a giant-killer when he trounced reigning Olympic silver medallist Lee Chong Wei and Olympic champion Chen Long in consecutive two days in the Indonesia Super Series Premier earlier this month.

“To beat Chen Long was really, really special and to probably beat Lee Chong Wei the previous day was even more satisfying for me,” Prannoy, who trains at the Gopichand Academy here, told PTI on Wednesday.

He, however, lost narrowly to Japan’s Kazumasa Sakai in semi-finals.

“It (the wins) gave me a lot of confidence but I need to be more consistent,” the 24-year-old shuttler said. “I think the only thing left for me is to go and win tournaments out there. Just performing well is not enough. I have been playing well for the last three, four years. (But) it’s high time that I need to win tournaments.”

Set to regain his place in the World top 10 after winning back-to-back titles, Kidambi Srikanth has now trained his eyes on the prestigious World Championship crown. The 24-year-old Indian, who won the Indonesia Super Series Premier and the Australian Super Series titles, said he will play to win at the World Championship in August.
“It is good to be back in top Ten. But, I did not play this tournament to be back in Top Ten. But, I played to win it,” Srikanth told reporters on his return to Hyderabad.
“Even the World Championship, I will definitely play to win. That is the only thing I am thinking about, not the ranking,” he added. Srikanth, who bounced back from an ankle injury, expressed happiness over his success in the last few weeks.
“The last two weeks has been fantastic. Not only for me, but for H S Prannoy and Sai (Praneeth) also. Prannoy has done really well beating Chong Wei and Chen Long in successive matches which never happened before,” he said.
“I congratulate Prannoy on doing it. But, it was an unfortunate semi-final lose.”
It was just after the Rio Olympics when he had suffered a stress fracture in his right ankle, an injury that took three months to heal, leaving him on the sidelines for the entire second half of last season. Srikanth said he did not want to push himself much immediately after the injury.

Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth notched up his second successive Super Series title with a stunning straight-game triumph over reigning Olympic and world champion Chen Long in the Australian Open summit clash here today.

The world no.11 Srikanth won 22-20 21-16 in a 45-minute clash against the world no.6 Chinese, who is also the current All England champion. Srikanth, who had reached the summit clash in Singapore and Indonesia before this tournament, is only the fifth player in the world to contest three successive Super Series finals.

The Indian, a semi-finalist in the last edition of the tournament, was the one to grab the early lead. Following a sedate start, Srikanth capitalised on his opponent’s rather sluggish game to clinch a 10-6 lead. But perhaps jolted by the lead he had conceded, Long gathered himself just in time, starting with a deftly-placed smash, to make it 11-11.

The Chinese shifted gears quite suddenly to add pace to the proceedings and his baseline strokes stood out for both ferocity and accuracy. But the Indian was no pushover and played the catch-up game quite well, coming up with a couple of brilliant smashes of his own.

And it was this tenacity which got Srikanth a 17-15 lead even though Long continued to breathe down his neck. But Srikanth did not let the momentum slip, helped by Long’s erratic game and the underdog earned his first game point at 20-19.

Long managed to save that with a rasping smash but Srikanth’s perseverance fetched him another at 21-20 when the Chinese was foxed by a low backhand return. This time, Srikanth made no mistake and sealed the first game in 23 minutes.

Kidambi Srikanth continued his dream run and grabbed a third successive Super Series final spot at the Australian Open with a straight-game victory over China’s Shi Yuqi here on Saturday. Srikanth, who had reached the summit clash in Singapore and Indonesia, joined Indonesia’s Sony Dwi Kuncoro, Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei, the Chinese duo of Chen Long and Lin Dan to become only the fifth player in the world to contest three successive Super Series finals.

A former World No.3, Srikanth, who had reached the semifinals in the last edition, produced yet another near- perfect performance to outclass All England finalist Shi 21-10 21-14 in a 37-minute match to notch up his second win over the Chinese. Srikanth had beaten him at the quarters of the Singapore Open in April.

“It’s a dream performance,” said Srikanth, who had suffered a stress fracture in his right ankle after the Olympics.

“I played a World Super Series final (Singapore Open) after two years, and then to play the next two finals is a dream for sure. I was in control of the whole match, I didn’t give him any easy points at the start. It’s just that I had to stay there, he’s someone who wants to keep the shuttle in play and goes for the odd shot, so I wanted to stay there and not give him easy points. I was in control at the net.”

Srikanth will play either reigning Olympic champion and two-time World champion and All-England champion Chen Long or Korea’s Lee Hyun II in the finals. “I have no thoughts about the final, no thoughts about winning or losing. (If it is Chen Long) I’ve played him four or five times. Most times it was close. I played him twice this year, I lost 21-19 or so,” he said.

Srikanth and Shi engaged in long rallies with both the shuttlers staying away from the net early on. The Indian relied on strong returns to lead 9-6 in the first game. Srikanth showed better anticipation and immaculate stroke play to lead 11-7 at the break. He continued to dominate the proceedings with Shi hitting long, finding the nets. At 16-9, Srikanth had a service error as the shuttle went to the net.

In what was an all-Indian quarterfinal of the Australian Super Series, the 24-year-old Guntur-born Kidambi Srikanth got the better of his national compatriot Sai Praneeth 25-23, 21-17 in straight games to book a place in his third consecutive Super Series semi-final.

The recently crowned Indonesia Super Series champion, Srikanth certainly wasn’t supported by the numbers as Sai Praneeth was heading into the game with a 5-1 head to head record against his counterpart. It was always going to be a hard-fought encounter fittingly delivered the same. Both Sai and Srikanth were playing a quick one-two and even though Sai made a good start, leading 4-1 at one point, he found himself lagging as Srikanth made it 11-10 as the game approached its first break.

With scores tied at 20-20 in the first game, the spectators witnessed a game like never before. Again a quick one-two followed and with two back to back points Srikanth took the first game into his pocket. The second game started in similar fashion as Sai took an early 3-0 lead, but Srikanth managed to close down the deficit. The game was closed poised at 9-9 and this is when Srikanth took a jump. Managing a four-point lead at 16-12, the 24-year-old Srikanth stretched his lead to 20-16 and only allowed Sai to grab one point before squaring off the game at 21-17.

Kidambi Srikanth and B Sai Praneeth eked out thrilling victories in the men’s singles second round to set up an all-Indian quarterfinal clash at the USD 750,000 Australian Super Series, here on Thursday.

Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu and defending champion Saina Nehwal also advanced to the quarterfinals of the women’s singles competition. Srikanth, who had edged out Son Wan Ho in the semifinals of Indonesia Open last week, once again had an upper hand against the World No. 1 Korean, beating him 15-21 21-13 21-13 in a 57-minute clash.

After this win, Srikanth had taken his head-to-head record against the Korean to 4-4.

“In the third game I thought I have to get the extra shuttle, that worked for me,” said Srikanth.

“He’s someone who doesn’t attack too much, just keeps the rally going. You have to be more steady than him or you have to crack him. In these conditions it’s hard to go on all-out attack. My training is paying off. I’m really confident about my fitness.”

In another match, Sai Praneeth staved off a challenge from China’s Huang Yuxiang 21-15 18-21 21-13 in a match that lasted 64 minutes. The Indian had beaten the Chinese at the 2015 US Open in their only meeting. Interestingly, Srikanth and Praneeth had clashed in the final of Singapore Open in April with the latter emerging victorious.

Commonwealth Games champion shuttler P Kashyap set up a clash with World No. 1 Korean Son Wan Ho in the main draw of the Australian Super Series here today after coming through qualifiers with two wins on the trot.

Kashyap, who is trying to comeback after losing a lot of time due to a series of injuries, saw off China’s Zhao Junpeng 21-15 21-18 in the opening round before disposing of Indonesia Super Series Premier runners-up Japan’s Kazumasa Sakai 21-5 21-16 in the second men’s singles match.

HS Prannoy, who defeated Olympic silver medallist Lee Chong Wei and Rio gold medallist Chen Long in Indonesia Open last week, got a direct entry into the main draw and he will take on England’s Rajiv Ouseph. Young Siril Verma also made it to the main draw after brushing aside Indonesia’s Yehezkiel Fritz Mainaky 21-9 21-9 and then defeating compatriot Shreyansh Jaiswal 21-16 21-15. In women’s singles qualifying round, Ruthvika Shivani Gadde beat Australia’s Sylvina Kurniawan 21-15 21-15 and then dumped another local player Ruwindi Serasinghe 21-9 21-7 to make it to the main draw.

Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth has won the Indonesia Open Super Series title by beating his Japanese counterpart Kazumasa Sakai 21-11, 21-19 in straight games.

It couldn’t have been more comfortable come-back for the Guntur-born shuttler, who defeated the World number 1 Son Wan Ho of South Korea 21-15, 14-21, 24-22 in the previous round to book his place in the final yesterday. It was duly expected to be a cagey affair and it delivered the same, with both Srikanth and Sakai breathing heavily on the neck of each other.

From the first shot, quick one-twos followed and Srikanth, who was playing his second straight Super Series final, soon found himself leading 6-5. Srikanth soon gained up the pace and extended his lead to 11-8. Smashes were flying, however, a needless error reduced the deficit, but not for long. He soon extended his tally to 17-9 and only allowed his counterpart two more points. Srikanth only needed 13 minutes to win the first game.

Sakai was never the one to deny and a slow start by Srikanth allowed the Japanese to take an early 7-3 lead. Going into the break of the second game, Sakai established an 11-6 lead. The 27-year-old was looking a deadlier presence in the second game, but Srikanth soon reduced the deficit to just two points, with the scores stating 13-11, and this is when the game turned on to its head.

Indian shuttler K Srikanth dished out a gritty performance to stun world No.1 Korean Son Wan Ho to reach the finals of the USD 1,000,000 Indonesia Super Series Premier.

The 24-year-old from Guntur fought like a man possessed to outclass Son 21-15 18-21 24-22 in an energy-sapping men’s singles match that lasted an hour and 12 minutes here. Srikanth had a 2-4 head-to-head record against Son, having lost to the Korean four times in the last four meetings but all that didn’t matter today as he survived a battle of attrition at the Jakarta Convention Center (JCC).

World No. 22 Srikanth will next face Japanese qualifier Kazumasa Sakai in the finals tomorrow. This is the fourth Super Series final for Srikanth, who had reached the summit clash in Singapore in April and won the 2014 China Open and 2015 India Open.

There was no stopping Indian shuttler H S Prannoy’s giant-killing spree as he stunned World and Olympic Champion Chen Long to enter the semifinals of the Indonesia Super Series Premier along with Kidambi Srikanth.

A day after he dispatched three-time Olympic silver medallist and World No.3 Lee Chong Wei, Prannoy proved his mettle once again, beating eighth seed Chen Long 21-18 16-21 21-19 in an energy-sapping men’s singles match that lasted an hour and 15 minutes.Compatriot Srikanth, who was playing on another court, also reached the last four round with a 21-15 21-14 win over Chinese Taipei’s Tzu Wei Wang.

Compatriot Srikanth, who was playing on another court, also reached the last four round with a 21-15 21-14 win over Chinese Taipei’s Tzu Wei Wang.

It was an extremely tough match today. But I was confident of doing well. I guess it is because of better fitness that I could play till the end,” Prannoy told PTI.”After the India Open and Asia Badminton, I really worked on my fitness under the new coach Mulyo Handoyo, who was the coach of Taufik Hidayat.

24-year-old Indian shuttler H.S Prannoy outclassed his Malaysian counterpart Lee Chong Wei 21-10, 21-18 in straight games to reach the quarter-final of the men’s single.

The Delhi-born Shuttler, having missed the Singapore and Malaysia Superseries, took a break to recover from his injury, and he couldn’t have hoped for anything better. Following the footsteps of his national compatriot Kidambi Srikant – who got the better of Denmark’s Jan O Jorgensen in a hard-fought encounter earlier today, Prannoy – ranked 25th – didn’t sweat much to reach the milestone.

Prannoy, soon after the kick-off, put Lee Chong Wei under pressure and took an early 5-0 lead. He continued to dominate the Malaysian by stretching his lead to 14-7 and then only allowed Lee Chong to take three more points, winning the first game 21-10. It only took 14 minutes for Prannoy to outclass the six-time Indonesia Open champion in the first game. The second game, however, was a difficult story.

The Bollywood industry has seen a number of biopics lately, with both the Sachin and Dhoni films garnering massive support and fans from across the country. Sonu Sood has caught hold of the trend and wants to use PV Sindhu’s story as a role model to women and sports enthusiasts as the main theme of his film.

Sonu was asked who would be perfectly suited for the role and replied, “I would love to see Deepika playing the character of Sindhu in my film. She is a fine actress. We are still in scripting stage. If the part is offered to her and she likes the script and director, and has the time for it, she will surely give her nod.

As a coincidence, Deepika is also an ace badminton player who has played at the national level. Sonu is confident Deepika will accept the role once the script and direction for the film has been put in place. Sonu is now looking for good locations to film the biopic, he currently has his eyes set on a cycle path in Dubai, with other scenes to be shot in China and South Korea. PV Sindhu herself will make a special cameo appearance, adding an interesting element of surprise to unsuspecting viewers.

B Sai Praneeth became only the second Indian to win the Thailand Open when he beat Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie 17-21, 21-18, 21-19 in the final of the tournament. Praneeth comes from the same school of badminton which has produced gems like Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu for India in this sport – The Pullela Gopichand School.

The 22-year-old has won two back-to-back titles this year, first the Singapore Open in April where he beat his Indian counterpart Kidambi Srikanth to clinch the title and now the Thailand Open.

In an exclusive chat with Sportswallah, he discusses his badminton, what future holds for him and reveals his next target after tasting sweet success in the first half of the year.

Indian shuttling ace B. Sai Praneeth has clinched away the Thailand Open title by getting the better of his 19-year-old Indonesian counter Jonatan Christie 17-21 21-18 21-19.

Sai Praneeth, who was yet to drop a single game prior to this ultimate showdown, had a tough time on the court as he was given a tough run for his money. Winning the first game, Christie – who just like his counterpart didn’t drop a single game in the tournament – asserted his authority in style. However, Praneeth bounced back in style to clinch away his second consecutive Open, having won the Singapore Open back in April and becoming the second ever Indian man to win a Super Series final at the Singapore Open.

Going into the first break of the match, the Indonesian was leading the strides and he then further maintained the stature, winning the first game 17-21. Praneeth gained the momentum and started the second game in style, leading the Indonesian by 9-3. Christie soon bounced back and started breathing heavily on the neck of Praneeth. As the game was approaching the end, Praneeth managed to hold on to his nerves to win the game 21-18.

Indian ace B. Sai Praneeth has reached the final of Thailand Open by getting the better of his Thai counterpart Pannawit Thongnuam 21-11 21-15 in straight-game in a match that only last 36 minutes. His national compatriot Saina Nehwal, on the other hand, bowed out of the tournament after losing out to Busanan Ongbumrungpan 19-21, 18-21 in the semi-finals.

The 24-year-old Hyderabad-born shuttler, Sai Praneeth – who clinched the Singapore Open crown last month – didn’t sweat much to defeat Thongnuam and never gave the Thai a slightest of edge to get past through him. In the second game, however, Thongnuam tried hard to bring his game back on track, but the brilliance of Praneeth eventually proved out too much to handle. With that being said and done, Praneeth will now lock horns with Indonesia’s 19-year-old sensation Jonathan Christie in the final on Sunday.

The fact that the 24-year-old Praneeth hasn’t dropped a single game in the entire tournament gives him a slight edge against Christie. Praneeth has shown a strong resilience in the entire tournament thus far, and if he tends to lift his second consecutive title this Sunday, he will have to be on his toes as his 19-year-old counterpart Jonathan Christie certainly isn’t the one to be overlooked at.

Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal cruised into the pre-quarterfinals of the Thailand Open after getting the better of her Slovakian counterpart Martina Repiska 21-5 21-10 in the opening round of the tournament. The former World number 1 will now lock horns with Malaysia’s Ying Ying Lee in the next round.

It was a walk in the park of Saina as she completely outclassed Repiska in the first game. The Slovakian only managed five points in the opening game, while 10 in the next one, and lost out in straight sets in a game that only last near to 25 minutes. While the Hyderabad-born ace booked her place into the next round, her national compatriot in B. Sai Praneeth followed her in the tournament by brushing off his Malaysian counterpart R. Satheishtharan 21-15 21-13 in men’s singles.

Claiming a medal at next year’s Commonwealth Games remains one of the targets for top doubles star Ashwini Ponnappa, who led India to the Sudirman Cup knockout stage last week.

At Gold Coast in Australia, which will also host the Commonwealth Games next year, Ashwini spearheaded the Indian challenge as she played both the mixed doubles with young Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and women’s doubles with N Sikki Reddy and their performances were the highlights of the event.

“We are looking forward to the next tournament, doing better than what we have done. If we can reach a final of super series this year, that will be good and definitely winning a medal at the Commonwealth Games will be one of the important targets,” Ashwini told PTI.

Talking about the Sudirman Cup, Ashwini said: “Ever since we came to know about the draw, I was confident we were good enough to beat them. Most of the players in the opposition team had top 5 players and when I knew I will have to play two matches, I had the belief that we could do well.

“Me and Satwik were training together just a few weeks ahead of the event as we had sent our entry for the Australian Open. So when we got a chance to play at the Sudirman Cup, we were excited as it was our first tournament together.”

Ashwini Ponnappa needs to introduction. With an extra spring in her step and an extra sting in her smashes, Ashwini had been a stand-out shuttler right her teens and continues to make waves on the Indian circuit, winning everything that came along her way and never shying away from a real challenge.

Records have come and gone for Ashwini as fast as her serve. The fastest serve in Women’s badminton history recorded so far at 260 km/hr. The first Indian along with Jwala Gutta to win a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in 2010 but nothing stops Ashwini Ponnappa from always moving forward. From being the child prodigy who gave it all in her sport, she sometimes dons the mentorship role in guiding upcoming young prodigies. One of them happens to be 16-year old Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, who Ashwini Ponnappa played mixed doubles with.

Maoists have issued a death threat to Indian badminton player Saina Nehwal and Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar for helping the families of the CRPF martyrs of Sukma.

The Maoists believe that the CRPF soldiers did not die for the country but instead were killed because of exploiting the local population. Some pamphlets were recovered from Bailadila region of Bastar area which is affected by the Naxalites. In the pamphlet, it was written, “We condemn the financial assistance given to the families of CRPF jawans killed in PLGA attacks. We appeal to famous figures, film actors, sportspersons and celebrities to stand with the revolution and poor people. Stand against police atrocities and human rights violations.”

“We condemn the financial assistance given to the families of CRPF jawans killed in PLGA attacks. We appeal to famous figures, film actors, sportspersons and celebrities to stand with the revolution and poor people. Stand against police atrocities and human rights violations,” the pamphlet read.

India’s campaign at the Sudirman Cup ended after they went down 0-3 against top seed and 10-time champions China in the quarterfinals of the mixed team championship here on Friday.

It was always going to be an uphill task for the ninth-seeded Indian team to breach the Chinese wall and though the mixed doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy put up a gritty show to challenge the World No. 2 pair of Lu Kai and Huang Yaqiong, they ultimately went down.

The experienced Chinese combination had the last laugh as they beat Ashwini and Satwiksairaj 16-21 21-13 21-16 in the first match that lasted an hour and three minutes.

K. Srikanth was then handed the enormous task of taming the Olympic champion, Chen Long. In the 48-minute men’s singles match, Srikanth showed some spark but never really came close to threatening the supremacy of the Chinese.

The Andhra Pradesh Legislature today passed a Bill to appoint Olympics silver medal-winning shuttler P V Sindhu as a Group-1 officer in the government, by amending the state public services Act.

Certain provisions in the Andhra Pradesh (Regulation of Appointments to Public Services and Rationalisation of Staff Pattern and Pay Structure) Act, 1994, prevented the appointment of the badminton player as any recruitment in public service should only be through the AP Public Service Commission, selection committee or employment exchange.

To give effect to the Cabinet resolution, the government decided to amend section 4 of the aforementioned law to enable the appointment of Sindhu directly in the cadre of a revenue divisional officer. Accordingly, state Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu introduced a Bill to amend the Act and it was passed unanimously in the Assembly. The Bill was later passed by the Legislative Council as well.

PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal, the two badminton stars of the country, played as doubles pair for Bharat Petroleum Corporation at the 38th PSPB inter-unit badminton championship in Bangalore but alas, they could not convert their efforts into sweet results.

The star pair lost to N Sikki Reddy and Aparna Balan 19-21, 21-18, 20-22. Despite the loss, the audience enjoyed the sight of PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal playing together for a change, instead of playing against each other.

Sindhu had got better off Saina in the Indian Open clash this year. Since Sindhu’s silver medal win at Rio Olympics 2016, the two players have been constantly compared and every time they were up against each other, they gathered eyeballs.

Sindhu, after the match, spoke that she is a big rival of Saina. She said, “We’re singles players first, so on-court rivalry will obviously be there. But off the court, there’s none, although we don’t speak very often.”

Indian shuttling ace PV Sindhu has marched onto the quarter-final of the Asian Badminton Championship after defeating her Japanese counterpart Aya Ohori 21-14, 21-15 in the second round of the tournament at the Wuhan Sports Center Gymnasium.

Sindhu, who got the better of Indonesia’s Dinar Dyah Ayustine, in the first round of the tournament, only took 40 minutes to book her place into the quarter-finals. Sindhu, a 2014 edition bronze medalist, will now ply her nails against China’s He Bingjiao in the next round.

With this, the Hyderabad-born is now the only Indian left in the competition as Saina Nehwal was already shown the exit doors in the previous round along with HS Prannoy, while her national compatriot in Ajay Jayaram lost out to China’s Taipei’s Hsu Jen Hao 19-21, 10-21 in the second round. The Chennai-born shuttler gave up a stiff competition in the first game, however, he was completely outclassed in the second game.Jayaram defeated Tian Houwei of China 21-18, 18-21, 21-19 in the previous fixture.

Indian shuttling ace PV Sindhu has marched onto the quarter-final of the Asian Badminton Championship after defeating her Japanese counterpart Aya Ohori 21-14, 21-15 in the second round of the tournament at the Wuhan Sports Center Gymnasium.

Sindhu, who got the better of Indonesia’s Dinar Dyah Ayustine, in the first round of the tournament, only took 40 minutes to book her place into the quarter-finals. Sindhu, a 2014 edition bronze medalist, will now ply her nails against China’s He Bingjiao in the next round.

With this, the Hyderabad-born is now the only Indian left in the competition as Saina Nehwal was already shown the exit doors in the previous round along with HS Prannoy, while her national compatriot in Ajay Jayaram lost out to China’s Taipei’s Hsu Jen Hao 19-21, 10-21 in the second round. The Chennai-born shuttler gave up a stiff competition in the first game, however, he was completely outclassed in the second game.Jayaram defeated Tian Houwei of China 21-18, 18-21, 21-19 in the previous fixture.

Shraddha Kapoor is set to play badminton champion Saina Nehwal, not on the field but as an actress in a new biopic produced by Bhushan Kumar that will hit theaters in 2018. Shraddha says the role will be her most difficult to date and took to Twitter to express her excitement:

Saina Nehwal is the former world no. 1 in professional badminton and is still part of the top ten of the best singles players. She won the bronze medal in the 2012 Olympics and has consistently risen to the challenges faced by her in the world of badminton.

Meanwhile, Shraddha Kapoor also expressed how honoured she is to be playing someone who has been a role model to so many people in India. In another tweet, she stated, “Her journey to the top has been fascinating and I am honoured to be given this opportunity to play in her next film, SAINA”. Shraddha Kapoor is also starring in another biopic called ‘Haseena’ where she will be portraying Dawood Ibrahim’s sister Haseena Parkar. ‘Haseena’ will see her in a more villainous role, portraying a more sinister character that requires a totally different approach from playing Saina, which will instead require a humble, courageous type of personality. It will be interesting to see how Shraddha balances the roles and replicates both characters on the big screen.

Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal has been wrecked out in the first round of the women’s singles of the Asian badminton Championship in Wuhan, China.

The 27-year-old Haryana-born was outclassed by Japan’s Sayaka Sato by 21-19, 16-21, 18-21 in a game that only lasts more than an hour. Saina Nehwal, who lost out in the first round of Malaysia open, pulled herself out of the recently concluded USD 350,000 Singapore Super Series, in order to regain the full fitness.

The Olympic medallist had a knee surgery soon after the 2016 Rio Olympics and since then, Saina has failed hit the ground running. The 27-year-old won the first game by the closet of margin and was looking in control, however, Sato made a brilliant comeback, winning the next two games by quite comfortably.

Her national compatriot, PV Sindhu, on the other hand, got the better of Indonesia’s Dinar Dyah Ayustine by 21-8, 21-18 in just 31 minutes to go into the second round of the tournament. The 21-year-old Hyderabad-born completely outclassed Dyah Ayustine in the first game but had a relatively close fight going into the second game.

Indian badminton players have had an exceptional week in the Badminton World Federation ranking with most of the Indian shuttlers having an upward movement in the rankings. PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth, and Sai Praneeth all jumping up in the world rankings.

PV Sindhu who was previously No.5 in the women’s rankings has jumped up two spots to climb up to No.3 in rankings. Saina Nehwal occupies the N0.8 spot in the women’s rankings.

In the men’s rankings, after their outstanding performance in the Singapore Super Series, both Sai Praneeth and Kidambi Srikanth have jumped up 8 places in the rankings. Kidambi Srikanth occupies the World No.21 spot with Praneeth one spot behind him on No.22.

And Gayatri later teamed up with Samiya to clinch the U-15 doubles title with a straight-game 21-17 21-15 win over Indonesian pair of Kelly Larissa and Shelandry Vyola.

Both Gayatri and Samiya train together at the Pullela Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad.

Speaking after the U-15 doubles event, Samiya said:

“It was a great experience for me considering I was playing my own partner in the singles final. Tournaments like these are a great learning for us, and we look forward to many such competitions. I would also like to thank our coach Gopi sir who is helping us get better and better.”

Praneeth prevailed 17-21 21-17 21-12 in a 54-minute contest, which was the first all-Indian Super Series final in the history of the game.

The two players dished out an engaging opening game before Praneeth staged a remarkable comeback to dominate the proceedings and emerge a comfortable victory.

Before Sunday, only three nations — China, Indonesia and Denmark — had two of their shuttlers playing in finals of a Super Series event.

Praneeth, who had a 4-1 head-to-head record against his counterpart before coming onto the court, slumped to a defeat in the first game, as he had no answers for Srikanth’s brilliance. However, he turned the strides in similar manager and Srikant became the victim of his own medicine in the second game, even after taking an early lead.

For the first time in the history of badminton, two Indians will clash in a Super Series final with Kidambi Srikanth taking on B Sai Praneeth at the Singapore Open tomorrow.

Former World No. 3, Srikanth, today notched up a 21-13 21- 14 win over World No. 26 and 2014 Youth Olympic Games bronze medallist Anthony Sinisuka Ginting to reach the third Super Series final of his career.

Earlier, Praneeth, who had reached the finals at the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold in January before being laid low by a shoulder injury, continued his rampaging run in the tournament to thrash three-time Korea Masters Grand Prix Gold winner Lee 21-6 21-8 in a lop-sided semifinal match.

Only three nations — China, Indonesia and Denmark — have so far had two of their shuttlers playing in finals of a Super Series event.

Praneeth was the first to make it to the summit clash after he executed his plans brilliantly to completely blow away his opponent in a 38-minute match.

Spanish shuttler Carolina Marin got the better of her Indian counterpart PV Sindhu, defeating her 11-21, 15-21, in the quarter-final of the Singapore Open.

The 23-year-old Spaniard dominated the strides against the Hyderabadi-born and proved out to be too hot to handle throughout their time on the court. Marin was leading Sindhu all ends up as she took an inaccessible lead in the first game. While the game reached into the first half, Marin was ahead with the scoreline stating 11-4.

She soon extended it to 18-8 and further allowed just three more points to Sindhu, winning the first game 21-11.

Olympic silver medallist P. V. Sindhu made a positive start to her Singapore Open campaign on Wednesday after she outclassed the 2016 All England champion Nozomi Okuhara of Japan.

Sindhu, who had clinched her maiden India Open Super Series title earlier this month, fought back from a game down to eke out a 10-21 21-15 22-20 win in the opening round of a women’s singles match that lasted an hour and two minutes here.

Indian shuttler Ajay Jayaram, who stunned World’s number two Viktor Axelsen in the second round of the Malaysia Super Series Premier, has been bumped out in the quarter final of the tournament by Korea’s Son Wan Ho.

The Chennai-born shuttler was completely outclassed by the fifth seed Wan Ho and it took just 37 minutes for the Korean to crash Jayaram out of the tournament. This defeat means that Jayaram has now lost four successive games against Korean with the last encounter coming back in 2013 China Open.

With the scoreline suggesting 18-21 14-21, Wan Ho didn’t sweat much to get the better of Jayaram, who was the only Indian left in the tournament, as both Saina and Sindhu were shown the exit doors in the first round by Akane Yamaguchi and Chen Yufei respectively.

Indian shuttler PV Sindhu has achieved her best ever Badminton after she was pushed up to the second spot in the latest Badminton World Federation rankings list.

The 21-year-old Olympic silver medallist was previously listed on the fifth spot, and with this upbringing, the 21-year-old has surpassed her arch nemesis, Carolina Marin – who is on the third spot. China’s Taipei’s Tai Tzu Ying, however, has managed to hold on to her first spot.

This career-high has been achieved mainly because of her triumph in the recently concluded India Open Super Series where she outclassed Carolina Marin by 21-19, 21-16 in the final. In the build-up of the final, she also got the better of her compatriot Saina Nehwal.

PV Sindhu has extracted revenge of the 2016 Rio Olympics loss against her arch nemesis, Carolina Marin, beating her 21-19, 21-16 in the final of the India Open. It was an intense encounter but Sindhu never gave Marin a sniff in the match, clinching her maiden India Open crown. With this victory, Sindhu is now 5-5 in the head-to-head record against the Spaniard.

PV Sindhu beat her arch nemesis Carolina Marin in the final of the India Open in New Delhi 21-19, 21-16. This victory went some way towards Sindhu extracting revenge for her 2016 Rio Olympics final loss to Marin.

Sindhu started the match brilliantly, racing to a 5-0 lead in the first game before Marin finally started to get a grip of the match. The rest of the game was a high intensity and fast paced encounter, with Marin making a brilliant comeback in the game. At one point, she was on the verge of winning the first game, being in the lead with a score of 19-18. But it was Sindhu, who held her nerves better, winning the next three points in succession to wrap up the first game 21-19.

PV Sindhu will get the perfect opportunity to extract revenge from Carolina Marin, when the pair face off in a blockbuster clash in the final of the India Open at Siri Fort Indoor Stadium in New Delhi. The pair faced off in the final of 2016 Rio Olympics, where Sindhu suffered a major heartbreak despite winning the first game and had to settle for the silver medal in the final.

Sindhu has had to face a tough road in order to reach the final of her home tournament, where she first had to face Saina Nehwal in the quarter-final and then second-seeded Sung Ji Hyun of South Korea in the semis.

Indian Badminton ace PV Sindhu has defeated second seed Sung Ji Hyun of Korea 21-18, 14-21, 21-14 in the semi-final of the India Open and has carpeted her way into her maiden India Open Super Series final. And with that being done, she will be up against the top seed Carolina Marin on Sunday.

Sindhu, who defeated her national compatriot Saina Nehwal in the quarter-final, won the first point but eventually trailed in the early minutes of the game. She, however, roared back and regained her lead (11-9) at the break. Soon after it, the young Hyderabadi extended it to 17-13 and right at that point, the Korean stepped up and reduced the deficit to just one point (16-17). This proved out to be the last roll of dice for the Korean as Sindhu marched on to win the first game by 21-18.

PV Sindhu outnumbered Saina Nehwal in the quarter-final of the India Open open yesterday and proved the point as to why she is the new Badminton queen of Indian.

The Hyderabad-born shuttler crushed Saina 21-16 22-20 in just 47 minutes and soon after the game, she cleared the air regarding their rivalry by saying that beating the former World’s number one was “just another match.”

The new Badminton queen PV Sindhu crushed her counterpart Saina Nehwal 21-16, 22-20 in the quarter-final of India Open to book a place in the semis.

This was the second ever meeting between Saina and Sindhu on an international circuit with the former getting the better of Sindhu in the final of the Syed Modi back in 2014, and it is quite fair to say that Sindhu has had a perfect revenge. Both were breathing heavily on the neck of each other as the scores were tied at 9-9.

All eyes will be on PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal in the quarterfinal of the Indian Open in New Delhi, as the two biggest name in Indian badminton face off at the Sri Fort Sports Complex.

It is only the second time when the two heavyweights of Indian badminton face-off on the international circuit. The last time the pair met was in the final of the Syed Modi Grand Prix in 2014. On that occasion, the London Olympic bronze medalist Saina Nehwal prevailed.

Ahead of Indian Open Superseries, Spanish shuttler Carolina Marin has warned her Indian counterpart Saina Nehwal that she won’t allow her to get to the top with ease.

Marin has had to endure a difficult time soon after the 2016 Olympic triumph as some injuries niggled her further progress in the game. To add further to it, he was knocked out of All England Open badminton by Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon in the quarter-finals. Having recovered from her injury now, Carolina is now aiming to outclass Nehwal in the process.

Olympic medallists Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu will be the cynosure of all eyes when the seventh India Super Series badminton tournament gets underway with the qualifiers in Delhi on Tuesday.

London bronze-medallist Saina will be one of the favourites at the Indian Super Series, an event she won two years ago to achieve the world No.1 ranking.

“Delhi has always been special to me. I won the Commonwealth Games gold here and then won the Indian Open in 2015 and became the world No.1. So everything has been special for me. It is great to play in front of home crowd,” said the current world No.8, who has been on a comeback trail after recovering from a knee injury.

Badminton ace and the latest golden girl of Indian sports, PV Sindhu had her fairytale moment at the Times Of India Sports Awards (TOISA) 2017 red carpet in a stunning intricate sequined bodycon floor-length gown. The 2016 Rio Olympics silver medalist bagged the ‘Sportsperson of the Year’ and the ‘Best Badminton Player for the Year’ Award at TOISA 2017.

There once was an obsolete belief that sports and fashion can never go hand in hand. Pfft! Our very famous Sania Mirza and Virat Kohli accepted the challenge and proved these beliefs wrong and how! They showed how style comes easy to them and at the end of the day, you just need to have the eye for details. On this journey, now joins the Olympic silver medallist, P V Sindhu.

At the 2012 London Olympics, there was a lot of expectations with the Indian contngent after their brilliant performances in the previous edition of the Olympics in Beijing and they did not disappoint one bit.

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